Hale Centre Theatre Vice President Sally Dietlein announced the 2017 performance schedule and estimated completion dates for their new theater at a media tour of the construction site Wednesday, May 4, 2016.

The the 460-seat proscenium thrust currently titled “The Jewel Box” is slated to show “Forever Plaid” starting Sept. 1, 2017, according to a statement from Hale Centre Theatre.

The theater will house 1,360 seats with six inches more legroom than the previous Hale Centre Theatre location in West Valley City, Sally Dietlein. The larger, 900-seat “theater-in-the-round” style main theater will open with the play “Aida” on Nov. 16, 2017, according to the same statement.

“This kind of a world class premier facility is being built for the actors who live, breathe and work here in Utah—where they reside with their families, where they learned their, craft and where they want to be,” Sally Dietlein said.

The Hale Centre Theatre held a groundbreaking ceremony on Sept. 16 on the 3rd floor of the City Hall building, near where the new 130,000-square-foot, $65 million theater will be built in... Read More »

Hale Centre Theatre annual fund development director Quin Dietlein said the non-profit has the goal to pay back the $42.7 million bond in ten years after the completion of their new theater at 10000 South and Monroe Street.

He also said the “firm” price tag for the new Hale Centre Theatre facility is $65 million, but acknowledges there is still a margin of error for exact costs as the project continues.

“We look at it is a big mortgage. It’s a lot happier place to live if you are not living under a super heavy mortgage payment,” Quin Dietlein said.

City documents note that Hale has 30 years to pay the bonds with 5.5 percent per annum back to the city.

Quin Dietlein said that donors have already raised about $18 million and is considering selling naming rights for both the theaters, in addition to ticket sales. Sally Dietlein said that the 2017 entertainment season was sponsored Mountain America Credit Union.

“We’re still chasing money,” Quin Dietlein said. “The fun thing that we get to do is talk to people who believe in the project and believe in the benefit to the community.”

The 130,000 square-foot theater will house year-round performances.

Layton Construction executive Vice president Jeff Beecher said the facility, designed by Beecher Walker and Associates, will require 970 tons of rebar, 1,617 tons steel and 7,700 yards concrete. Beecher said about 3,000 yards was poured Wednesday. The concrete exterior walls will be 18 inches thick and sound-proof.